Hi Screamer, thank you for your comments.
My weight is close to 90kg and the strong winds in the place were I live are almost always not steady. Those two variables, as also Olah H mentioned, are the main reason to buy the 79 instead of a smaller board.
I'll problably lose some fun in the 3.5m-4.0m wind range due to this choice, but such epic days are very very rare in my country.

Good sailing, TJ

15th March 2008 04:54 PM

Screamer

I agree it will give you more choice and more tuning range in the overlap/mid area.

Exactly the same with sail quivers. I probably belong to that group that spread out their quiver quite a lot. Example: 4.2-5.0-6.0/slalom 7.3-9.0. Another example: Kombat86 + 75cm wide slalom. (and it works) But it was my choice to cover as much conditions as possible, rather than to concentrate on specific, most important area.

As you say, an individual thing (and a $$$ thing also).
Sorry it was maybe OT a bit.

15th March 2008 12:53 PM

Ola_H

I depends on how you want to tune your quiver, and that in turn depends on for example how wide the spectrum of conditions you sail in is. K79 and K89 will be rather close, but distinctively different still, especially for a heavier sailor. Since the K89 is already in the quiver, the question is how small you want to go with the next size down. PA74 will for _most_ (not all) people in the 85-90kg range be for quite a lot of wind and maybe even more importantly, for very steady winds. K79 will for someone in that weight range still handle a lot of wind, particularly on flat water. In waves it will offer a more maneuverable alternative to the 89 when waves are OK, but when the wind is maybe not super strong and solid.

So, what K79+K89 quiver does is to focus less on the extreme ends of the wind ranges but more on giving tuning options in the important mid range.

A K89+PA74 will cover extreme ends of the wind range well, but leave somewhat of a whole in the mid range (or at least an area of "thin coverage").

K89+PA80 will be kind of a compromise.

But quiver planning is an individual thing. I personally think many people "spread out"
their quivers to much. I'd rather have to all round boards with high respectively low wind bias than two "extreme" boards. But thats me.

15th March 2008 06:57 AM

Screamer

Hmmm

I have a Kombat86 (I'm also 85+ kg) and have chosen an Acid74 as a next smaller board. I haven't tried it yet, nor have I sailed Kombat79, so maybe I'm totally wrong. It seems to me that K89/K79 will overlap way too much (they will differ what - 2cm in width and 0.7m in sail carrying range?)
I have very rarely heard, if ever, that a sailor chooses 2 "neighbouring" sizes, whether it's a Kombat, iSonic, Evo, etc. My opinion is that a wider "spread" (but keeping some small overlap) will cover much more wind range.

15th March 2008 12:04 AM

Unregistered

Thank you Ola H for your reply. Glad to hear that the 79 definately feels smaller than the 89. My major concern was that the 79 would be too closely related in size to the 89, for comfortable sailing in high winds.

Have fun, TJ

13th March 2008 01:15 AM

Ola_H

I sailed the K87 and have the 08 K79 now. Both are terrific boards with a similar feel ad the K79 is clearly a size smaller. If you like the K89 you will love the K79.

There is one option however: the Pure Acid 80. It has a very similar rocker to the Kombats and are just as fast. You'll miss out the double back strap option obviously. Except for that, the biggest difference is that the wider tail of the K79 will support it better at slower speeds. The narrower tail of the PA80 will make it more controllable at higher speeds. On flat water, I would say the range of the K79 will be slightly bigger. The wider tails is not much of a problem even in windy conditions here. But on a wave, the PA80 will have the wider speed range. When it is windy or if you go fast on a wave when riding, you will have an easier time handling the fast rocker with that narrower tail.

But again, the K79 is a great option and if you don't ride wave at higher speeds, probably the best compromise, particularly if you're closer to 90 than to 85.

13th March 2008 12:49 AM

Unregistered

Kombat 79

Hi,

Has someone already sailed the 2008 Kombat 79?
My weight is between 85 and 90 kg. I'm thinking of buying it next to the Kombat 89 as my high wind board for waves and flatwater.
Hope that someone can share his experiences with this board.